Preparing Your Business for What’s Next: Key Insights from MarketingVogue CEO Mike Cotoia
In today’s fast-evolving business environment, there’s a significant shift happening in how consumer behavior is influencing expectations in B2B transactions. As digital commerce continues to rise, we’re seeing more overlap between our experiences as consumers and the way we approach business. The challenges we face in our personal lives—like supply chain disruptions, inflation, and rising interest rates—are closely connected to the pressures businesses will face in the months ahead.
As the pandemic eased, many people returned to normal activities like dining out and attending events. However, with broader economic shifts, households are becoming more cautious about their spending. They’re prioritizing long-term goals—like saving for a home or retirement—over short-term luxuries. This shift in personal spending priorities mirrors the tactical adjustments companies need to make.
Adapting to Changing Consumer Behavior
Whether you’re in B2C or B2B, the business landscape is shifting. If you’re in B2C, you’ve likely seen significant changes in consumer behavior just within the past few months. In B2B, while some changes may not yet be immediately visible—like slower deal cycles or reduced forecasting accuracy—it’s important to stay prepared for what’s coming. Economists are predicting a global recession in 2023, and businesses will need to become more efficient, maximizing productivity from tighter resources and making critical investment decisions.
In this environment, businesses must focus both internally—optimizing operations—and externally, on understanding their customers better. Just as consumer behavior is evolving unpredictably, so too are business demands. In the past, some thought tech spending in industries like travel and hospitality would plummet during tough times, but data showed otherwise. Similarly, our current data reveals that enterprise technology investments are still strong, especially among the most forward-thinking companies.
How Tech Vendors Can Prepare
The rise of SaaS and cloud computing has transformed how businesses operate, offering incredible efficiency gains. As professionals, many of us are accustomed to asking, “Is there an app for that?” when faced with a clunky process. But there’s a key distinction between essential infrastructure and optional tools, and businesses need to assess their technology portfolios accordingly.
Vendors also need to be aware of their customers’ evolving needs. To gain a competitive edge, companies should focus on three key strategies:
- Know Your Customers Inside Out: As economic conditions tighten, your existing customers are more valuable than ever. You need to understand their evolving needs and proactively engage with them. Using data-driven insights, you can identify what’s most important to your customers and strengthen your position in the market.
- Focus on Core Operations: Focus your efforts on the key elements of your business that directly drive value. This includes ensuring your sales teams have the best insights and targeting your marketing efforts more effectively. Eliminate inefficiencies by sunsetting underperforming systems and consolidating relationships with suppliers that are in a strong position to help you weather downturns.
- Embrace Digital Transformation: The pandemic accelerated digital transformation by years. Buyers today are more self-service oriented and comfortable with digital interactions than ever before. To stay ahead, you must meet your customers where they are—whether that’s through more engaging content, in the right digital channels, or in formats that resonate. As demand shifts online, your marketing strategy should follow.
Conclusion
In this first post of a series, I’ve outlined the key challenges and opportunities businesses will face in the coming months. The economic environment is shifting, and so too must our strategies. In future posts, I’ll dive deeper into each of these areas and provide actionable insights to help your business navigate these changes.
Stay tuned for more in this series, and feel free to reach out with any thoughts or questions.
